1/10 oz Five Blessings Gold Coin

A Fractional Gold Coin Built Around the Five Blessings

The 1/10 oz Five Blessings gold coin comes from the Royal Canadian Mint, struck in 999.9 fine gold and themed on the traditional Chinese concept of the Five Blessings, or Wu Fu: longevity, wealth, health, virtue and a peaceful death. The concept comes from the Shujing (Book of Documents), one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature, predating 300 BCE. The series first appeared in 2014 as an annual release aimed at Asian and Chinese-heritage collectors and investors, with the 2014 issue offered in gold at 1/10 oz and 1 oz alongside the 1 oz silver coin.

At 3.11 grams, the 1/10 oz size is the smallest commonly produced fractional gold coin weight, and it serves a specific purpose: low-cost entry into gold ownership, gifts and maximum divisibility. The trade-off is cost. Manufacturing costs are nearly the same as for a 1 oz coin but spread over one-tenth the gold, so 1/10 oz gold coins carry the highest relative premiums of any standard bullion weight.

The Five Blessings sits between pure bullion and high-premium collectibles. Mintages are modest, previous years' editions have reportedly sold out, and secondary market values on past issues have risen, though that is no guarantee for future releases. The design carries cultural weight too, which makes the coin a popular gift around Chinese New Year. Buyers wanting the cheapest possible sovereign gold should look at generic designs; buyers wanting culturally meaningful gold from a major mint are the audience here.

1/10 oz Five Blessings Gold Coin Specifications

The reverse design incorporates four animals from Chinese tradition, each symbolising one of the Five Blessings: a bat for happiness (the Chinese word for bat, fu, sounds identical to the word for blessing), a deer for career success and prosperity, two cranes for longevity, and a magpie for joy. The right side of the coin carries intricate circular imagery overlaid with the Chinese character used to wish good fortune. The obverse features the Susanna Blunt effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on earlier issues, transitioning to King Charles III on later ones. The RCM applies its standard bullion security features across the series, including radial lines and a micro-engraved maple leaf privy mark.

Tax Treatment of the Five Blessings Gold Coin by Country

As a 999.9 fine legal tender gold coin from a sovereign mint, the Five Blessings qualifies as investment gold in every major jurisdiction.

• Canada: Exempt from GST/HST, since it is refined above the 99.5% purity threshold and issued as legal tender by the Royal Canadian Mint, a Crown corporation. Capital gains are taxable at a 50% inclusion rate, though under the Listed Personal Property rule a coin both bought and sold for under $1,000 CAD generates no reportable gain or loss.
• UK: 0% VAT as investment gold. It is not a UK legal tender coin, so it carries no CGT exemption; gains above the annual allowance (currently £3,000) are taxable, unlike a 1/10 oz gold Britannia.
• US: No federal sales tax; state treatment varies, and several states apply thresholds (Florida exempts only purchases over $500, New York over $1,000). IRA eligible, as it exceeds the 99.5% purity requirement of IRS Section 408(m). Long-term gains are taxed at the collectibles rate of up to 28%.
• EU: 0% VAT under the Investment Gold Directive.
• Australia and New Zealand: GST-free as investment-grade gold above 99.5% purity.
• Singapore and Hong Kong: No GST (qualifying Investment Precious Metals in Singapore; no sales tax at all in Hong Kong) and no capital gains tax in either.

Five Blessings vs Maple Leaf, Perth Lunar and Panda

The most direct alternative comes from the same mint. The 1/10 oz Gold Maple Leaf matches the Five Blessings on purity at .9999 and on sovereign backing, but carries a generic design struck in far larger numbers. The Maple Leaf is the cheaper, more liquid choice; the Five Blessings offers thematic variety and modest mintages at a slightly higher premium.

For Asian-themed gold, the Perth Mint's Lunar series is the more established competitor. It is more widely recognised, enjoys higher secondary-market liquidity, and rotates one zodiac animal per year, whereas the Five Blessings keeps its core theme across issues with details and styling varying between years. Buyers who want an annual design change with a deep resale market lean Lunar; buyers drawn to the specific Wu Fu symbolism have only one option.

The Chinese Gold Panda also targets Chinese-heritage collectors, with annual design changes driving collector demand, but it is struck at .999 rather than .9999 purity and commands higher premiums. The Panda's closest size equivalent at this weight is its 3 gram coin, a metric weight rather than a troy fraction.

One general point applies to all of these: accumulating gold in tenth-ounce pieces is expensive. Buying ten 1/10 oz coins costs materially more than a single 1 oz coin of the same series, and bid-ask spreads at this weight are the widest of any fractional size. The fractional format makes sense for gifting and divisibility, not for bulk accumulation.